By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

Case Keenum’s return means a lot more to the Houston Cougars than a Heisman Trophy candidate.

The sixth-year senior is helping make Houston a co-favorite along with Central Florida to win the Conference USA football title this season.

Central Florida received the most first-place votes with 20 and racked up 139 points in voting conducted by the media. The Knights are expected to unseat East Carolina as the East Division champion.

Houston got 12 first-place votes and 127 points as the West Division favorite. The two divisions winners at the end of the regular season meet for the conference championship.

The Marshall Thundering Herd got 65 points and was predicted to finish fourth in the six-team East Division.

Southern Mississippi is looking for a strong season and earned four first-place votes and 122 points to place behind UCF in the East race. East Carolina was third with 93 points.

Alabama-Birmingham was fifth in the East with 61 points and Memphis is expected to struggle again this season as the Tigers got just 24 points and sits sixth in the division.

Behind Houston in the West is Tulsa with eight first-place votes and 117 points. Southern Methodist got four first-place votes and 116 points to come in at third. Rice with 60 points is fourth while Tulane and Texas-El Paso tied for fifth with 42 points.

Marshall opens the season on Sunday, Sept. 4, at rival West Virginia in a 3:30 p.m. game. WVU is one of the favorites to win the Big East Conference.

The Herd will return home the following Saturday to host Southern Miss. The schedule continues its early grind with a trip to Ohio, a home game against Virginia Tech and then road games at Louisville and UCF.

The bottom part of the schedule has a home game with Rice on Oct. 15, a trip to Houston, UAB , at Tulsa and Memphis, and the finale at home Nov. 26 against East Carolina.

Conference USA

East Division

Team Points

1. Central Florida (20) 139

2. Southern Miss (4) 122

3. East Carolina 93

4. Marshall 65

5. Alabama-Birmingham 61

6. Memphis 24

West Division

1. Houston (12) 127

2. Tulsa (8) 117

3. Southern Methodist (4) 116

4. Rice 60

5. Tulane 24

5. Texas-El Paso 24

(First place votes in parenthesis)